The Heong Gallery: Halfboy | Stuart Pearson Wright

Date: 21st November 2018

Halfboy

Stuart Pearson Wright

2 November 2018 – 6 February 2019

Even as The Children Act 1975 gave adopted children the right to their birth records upon maturity, the National Health Service was providing assisted conception services using anonymous donor sperm. Conceived in a South London NHS facility in 1975, artist Stuart Pearson Wright will never have access to his paternal heritage, a loss that has evolved from childhood confusion to the remorse of a father of two young children. Halfboy came about as a result of a chance encounter with a box of childhood photographs, a rare find as most such mementos were lost due to the peripatetic lifestyle imposed by familial circumstances in the 1980s. Reconstructed from photographs and personal memories, Stuart Pearson Wright has imbued the paintings that make up Halfboy with his portraitist’s eye for detail, bringing to life the minutiae of time and place. Humour and pathos jostle for attention in this autobiographical series, which will be supplemented by works made in the aftermath of a personal tragedy that unfolded upon his move to Suffolk. Find out more.

The Heong Gallery

A modern and contemporary art gallery at Downing College, named by Alwyn Heong, an alumnus of Downing College, who is a passionate supporter of the visual arts and a collector.